Quiet Storieshttps://quietstoriesblog.com
Quiet Stories is an Auckland based video game developer, dedicated to telling interactive stories and tackling New Zealand's youth mental health problem. However there is one thing we care about more than making games, and that's playing games! Every week on this blog we share podcasts, videos and articles where we celebrate, analyse and interview other incredibly talented developers in the industry. So for an abundance of gaming content check out Quiet Stories on Twitter (OurQuietStories) or on YouTube and Facebook (Quiet Stories).
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 11:21:32 +0000 en
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1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngQuiet Storieshttps://quietstoriesblog.com
The Quiet Games Magazine, Starlink and PlayStation Memorieshttps://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/15/the-quiet-games-magazine/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/15/the-quiet-games-magazine/#respondSat, 15 Dec 2018 22:04:14 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2519Today I wanted to trial something a little bit different. I’ve been discussing how I want to do a more informal style blog, where I share what’s going on in our game’s development or just general thoughts about the video game industry as a whole. So today I’ve kind of chucked together a few different things that were on my mind.

The Quiet Games Magazine is an Instagram account dedicated to celebrating all things gaming. You can find awesome cosplay models, fan made art and statues / collectibles from all the latest and greatest video games.

So go on then, why don’t you have a look? Just follow @quietgamesmagazine on Insta.

Also, as a weird side note, go to PlayStation.com right now to get a personalized video about your PlayStation experiences over the last five years. Here’s the one generated for me. Just something cool I found today, that I wanted to share.

Finally I just wanted to briefly discuss something related to the Ubisoft game Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

If you look at the history of a developer, you can often see the precursors to their next game. For example, the movement and momentum mechanics of Sunset Overdrive probably paved the way for Insomniac’s Spider-Man. Black Flag’s ship mechanics are now also being expanded into a full blown game titled Skull and Bones.

It’s easy to see in hindsight, but what about looking to the future. Starlink is the unasked for amalgamation of No Man’s Sky and the ‘toys to life’ craze. There are an abundance of ships, pilots and weapons that can be bought either physically or digitally. Each one offers slight adjustments to the gameplay, but having bought nothing besides the starter pack, I feel in no way handicapped in my experience. So in a lot of ways Starlink is an improvement upon the likes of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, which both relied heavily on the idea of maximizing consumerism and add-on sales. Starlink could also be enjoyed by those over the age of 12, which isn’t really the case for the others.

The No Man’s Sky element is more or less the crux of the game. You play as Starlink, a group of space fairing explorers looking to find the home of an amnesiac alien who crash landed on earth. In many ways the two are similar. You can seamlessly fly through space towards a planet and then land on and explore said planet. No loading screens. From a visual standpoint the difference between Starlink and No Man’s Sky is almost unrecognizable. This could very easily be confused as a sequel to Hello Game’s massive indie sim.

However unlike No Man’s Sky, everything you do has a purpose. You aren’t just mindlessly mining for materials and then flying to another procedurally generated planet, crossing your fingers it includes something of interest. There are over half a dozen planets to explore, but you can explore the entire circumference of each world. There are crashed ships to discover, enemy bases to destroy, boss battles and alliances to be formed. All of which is rapped up in a kid friendly, Dream Works style narrative.

So Starlink’s a better version of No Man’s Sky. It’s a better version of Skylanders and Disney Infinity. Plus I haven’t even mentioned that if you buy the game on Switch you acquire exclusive Star Fox missions, pilots and ships. And playing as Fox, in his signature ship, is in itself a far better Star Fox game than we’ve had in over a decade.

So I’ve kind of forgotten the point of what I was trying to say. The point is, not only is this a better version of three other popular games (which it is receiving nowhere near enough recognition for), but it’s also a precursor for what is to come. Beyond Good and Evil 2 has, in it’s limited tech demo’s, toted a system similar to Starlink… of seamlessly flying through the universe, from planet to planet.

Starlink is the first game to implement such a system well. But even then, it’s worlds are simple. If Starlink is Toy Story, then Beyond Good and Evil 2 could be James Cameron’s Avatar. The universe traversal of Starlink, with the world density of Assassin’s Creed. It’s a big leap forward, bigger than any game in history. It’s not something you attempt all at once, you build up to it. Just look what happened to No Man’s Sky.

People asked why Ubisoft was still committed to a toys to life experience in 2018. Well maybe this is why. Because this game is a sign of what’s to come, and we just haven’t realized it.

Just a thought.

Chris Bowring

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/15/the-quiet-games-magazine/feed/0Presentation1ctbowringPresentation2thumb-1920-931901starlink.originalgvideoQuiet Stories’ Celebrates It’s 1 Year Anniversaryhttps://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/10/quiet-stories-celebrates-its-1-year-anniversary/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/10/quiet-stories-celebrates-its-1-year-anniversary/#respondMon, 10 Dec 2018 01:15:24 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2511So last week I posted my final review. I said I’d stop doing the more formal Games Journalism pieces that I’ve grown so familiar with, but still post on here every week. I’ve decided to write a more relaxed, more personal weekly column. That way I can be up front and genuine, and share my opinions about a wide range of topics.

This first one was a little hard. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of me founding Quiet Stories. I was supposed to write a piece about it yesterday… but I didn’t. That kind of tells you where I’m at. I’m incredibly proud of what this company has achieved in the last year, and in some ways still in disbelief. However in other ways I wish we’d done more.

We launched on December 11th 2017. I was in my third year of University and had been impatiently trying to work out what I was going to do in a years time, when I graduated. I knew I wanted to do something creative, which is why i’d been studying Advertising, but having gone through my own personal struggles I now had a desire to use my time to help others. More specifically, do something to make people with mental illness feel less alone. So I set up a Facebook page, this website and released a spoken word poem I’d put together about my struggles with mental health.

The video din’t get all that much attention on YouTube but received thousands of views on Facebook and was shared by various mental health dedicated pages. In the following weeks I was contacted by various people, and one of them stood out. A man living at the opposite end of my home country, reached out to me, and told me that he showed my video to his family. He told me that my words helped his family understand what he was going through, and that it was the first time he’d felt understood by them in nearly a decade. That really rocked me to my core. It might have only been one person, but if something I made had that much power to help someone, then this was the life direction i’d been waiting for.

And so Quiet Stories was born! A New Zealand based production studio that linked gaming (my greatest passion) with aiding more serious youth issues, like mental health, addiction and just growing up in general. It’s been a year since I started this up, all on my own, and boy, what a ride it has been.

I was still working in Games Journalism back then, and so decided to partner with a site called Goombastomp for a variety of projects. We produced around 25 articles together over 2018, my favorite of which being the “Can you Make a Video Game with No Experience” series, where I showcased my first steps into learning game development.

I also worked with them to create the Fist Fight podcast. The show was hosted by myself and my friend Casey and had a split focus between two opposing sides arguing the quality of an agreed upon game, and interviewing lesser known but talented Indie devs from around the world. Sadly the endeavor became too time consuming and we had to end the show by late April of this year.

Between March and September I started up a series called, Contexts of Games and Play. The goal was to produce articles with a more academic focus on game development, to aid other university students looking for guidance. I wrote about a wide variety of interesting topics that you can check out below.

I also ran an extremely short lived Let’s Play/ Review series called Drunken Chats. The premise, get wasted and try review a game. I soon realized it was quite shit.

In April of this year we launched one of our biggest projects. A Kickstarter for a book I personally wrote and illustrated called Video Game Abominations. It was to be a satirical encyclopedia about all the video game characters we’ve come to know and remember. It was a project I put a lot of love into, but after we raised only 10% of our goal, it ended up never seeing the light of day.

But of course these were all side projects. My main goal was to make a video game of my own. For the last month of 2017 and the first few months of 2018 I started work on a narrative driven game about mental illness. However I soon realized the game was too grand in scope for a one man team. A one man team who had a lot of experience in writing, a little in art and absolutely none in programming.

So while I started learning the skills I needed I started work on a 2D Platformer / Bullet Hell about a gamer who refused to take part in violence. Eventually the idea was scrapped. I realized I wasn’t making the type of game I wanted this company to represent.

So I began work on our current game, a narrative driven experience about growing up. Initially I was alone, and manged to build a prototype that actually ran and looked pretty good. Within a few months I brought on other students and recent graduates from my University to help out, and Quiet Stories suddenly had a team. Production ramped up and so did the quality and scope of the game.

Although we haven’t announced the game publicly yet, we’ve seen an immense amount of support. We showcased the game privately at Ad:tech 2018 and were even shortlisted to debut the game at the Kinda Funny Games Showcase. In the end we decided between us that it wouldn’t be the best place to debut, so for now our project is still a secret.

So in a lot of ways we’ve achieved heaps… but also very little. I’ve posted over 250 pieces on this website, tackled various creative projects and am well on my way to announcing my first ever game. Quiet Stories is a dream that has become a reality in the last 12 months, and although I wish we’d done more, I can’t wait to see where we are by the end of year 2.

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/10/quiet-stories-celebrates-its-1-year-anniversary/feed/0Video Bannerctbowring1767-1awayoutpreviewblogroll-1520942360865Untitled-1Metal Gear Survive: My Last Reviewhttps://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/01/metal-gear-survive-my-last-review/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/01/metal-gear-survive-my-last-review/#respondSat, 01 Dec 2018 23:37:44 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2492This is my last review, the last review i’ll ever write. What a journey it has been.

Why this is my Last Review

In 2015 I was in my first year of university and was looking for a job. I saw an ad for a local men’s lifestyle magazine, looking for writers. I decided to apply, but because I didn’t know much about cars or sport, I offered to write about games for them. For that application I wrote my first ever review. It was for The Witcher 3.

I didn’t get the job. However a year later after a stint in a clothing store and construction, I decided to try my luck again. I wanted to see if I could make writing about games my part time job. I wrote a review for Dying Light’s The Following DLC and a feature piece about my opinions on multiplayer games. I applied to half a dozen or so publications and was hired by a small British site called One Up Gaming. It was there that I received my first ever pre-release review code and wrote my first professional review as a freelance games writer. It was for a game called Dungeon of the Endless. I gave it a 4 out of 5.

I was thrilled to be part of the industry, even if the people reading my work were in the dozens rather than the millions. But I was also hungry and eager to grow. So I started doing more. I hosted podcasts, wrote news articles, feature pieces, Wiki’s, produced and hosted videos and handled websites social media pages. I ended up freelancing for a variety of publications, including, Game Skinny, Gotaki Gaming and My Trending Stories. I collated all this work in one place, my personal blog, What Should I Play Today.

Within a year I was predominantly writing for an American publication called The Nerd Stash, mainly putting together news articles and branching out beyond video games into; film, television and comics. By my final year of university I was solely working for Goomba Stomp, a mid-tier Canadian publication. I’ve loved working for them, mainly producing features around how video games relate to social matters such as relationships, mental health and meditation. They are a great publication and I admire everyone who writes for them. However it is coming up to the one year anniversary of when I founded Quiet Stories, and we are deep into development of our first game.

Although I love writing about games, and I got my my first break in this industry writing reviews, it no longer seems ethical. It doesn’t seem right to critique the quality of other developers work, while asking others to believe in my own titles. I haven’t written a review since I began investing in game dev, but as I recently graduated from University, I wanted to write one last review. A final farewell to this chapter of my life.

I’ll still write about games on this blog, but it will be more focused on celebrating games, analyzing the industry and discussing our own projects. I’ll also still contribute to group pieces on the Goomba Stomp website. I’m just saying goodbye to writing news articles or reviews or things of that nature. My last review is below, I hope you enjoy it.

You Can’t Run From Your Past

In 2015 Hideo Kojima, one of the games industries most beloved developers, parted ways with one of the industry’s most polarizing companies, Konami. A tumultuous period for both sides, it was anything but an amicable separation. With news slowly leaking over the issue, consumers, press and passionate fans made it clear who they were siding with. Kojima is now working on Death Stranding in partnership with Sony, and receives an uproar of applause whenever he chooses to appear in public. Konami on the other hand has become one of the most hated companies in all of gaming.

Yes they created Castlevania and Metal Gear, but they also let go of the two creators of each franchise, released an unfinished Metal Gear Solid 5, scrubbed clean of Kojima’s name, and killed the highly anticipated P.T. and Silent Hills remake.

So how would the world react to Konami’s new Metal Gear game? A game lacking the influential Kojima, completely disconnected from the series lineage, and boasting a strange sci fi theme rapped in the mechanics of a survival game. As you might of guessed, it didn’t go down well.

“A threadbare connection to the 30-year history of Metal Gear and a comparatively shallow game made in the shadow of The Phantom Pain, it’s hard to recommend enduring the whole thing.”

Polygon

“Defending the same points from the same zombies. Exploring the same zones for the same materials. Mining the same resources for the same small amounts of gear.”

It’s clear to say that critics weren’t kind. Middling reviews mixed with the internet hatred of long time fans lead to an abysmal launch for Survive. But at the end of the day, did the game itself, and all the hardworking developers who put this together, really deserve the response they received?

An Unbiased Opinion

First things first, this is a Metal Gear game, but it also really isn’t. You’ll find members of mother base, XOF and A.I., connecting to the Phantom Pain. You’ll also find a familiarly camp, yet engaging story. However you won’t find Big Boss, Solid Snake or Kojima’s name. For many fans, this was enough to slander Survive. Critics were also quick to judge Survive for not being a traditional stealth-action game.

None of that matters to me. Konami’s practices have been questionable at best over the last few years, but that shouldn’t affect judgement around the game. As someone who played and enjoyed both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, but has no nostalgia or love for the series, I wanted to take a look myself.

If it’s not Metal Gear, Then What is it?

Survive, like Revengeance, isn’t part of the core Metal Gear Solid series. It’s a spin off game, that takes from the core series, but is it’s own beast. You play as a customisable, and silent protagonist, known simply as the Captain. After the destruction of Mother Base in Ground Zeroes, several of the soldiers left behind are sucked into a strange wormhole in the sky. You survive, but are soon tasked with entering the strange dimension on the other side of these portals, which have apparently popped up sporadically over the decades, and save those trapped in a place regularly referred to as ‘hell’.

The world of ‘Dite’ (as it is referred to) is overrun with infected humans, known as wanderers. These wanderers are far more lethal than the zombies you might find in Dead Rising, and are more akin to those in State of Decay. They are lethal in packs, and if you’re not equipped, pose a serious threat even on their shambling lonesome. The story is told predominantly in text based conversations, rather than the cinematic cutscenes the series is known for. It starts slow, but by the end Survive manages to tell a story that is moving, campy, dramatic and twist filled. Despite having arguably the least narrative focus in the entire Metal Gear history, written without Kojima and disconnected for the most part from the rest of the series, Survive captivated me from a story perspective.

In fact Survive’s narrative helps it stand out from the crowd. From Ark: Survival Evolved to Stranded Deep, there are a litany of games within this genre to enjoy. However they all suffer from similar issues. Their UI and menus are often obtuse and uninviting, their combat systems feel like they were implemented as an afterthought, and they punish you constantly without any form of direction or guidance on what to do.

State of Decay helped bridge the gap between the survival genre and a mainstream audience, providing specific missions and a slight introduction for new players. I hoped State of Decay 2 would be the first AAA game to merge an open world action game, with a narrative and a challenging survival game, but it did little to build on the first. Survive on the other hand achieved this with confidence. It isn’t a walk in the park. Survive will punish you heavily if you aren’t careful. You can only save at your home base, and some missions can take up to forty five minutes to complete. So even if you complete several missions, collect an abundance of resources, and explore the world for several hours, if you take a few hits before returning to base, you’ll have to redo it all.

But with the guiding hand of its narrative and a well-designed introduction to each of the games systems, there is a sense of growth and accomplishment that few survival games provide.

The Best Survival Game Ever Made?

You’ll find many hallmarks of the survival genre here. You’ll need to manage your hunger and thirst. You’ll find pools of water and animals to hunt out in the wild, but you’ll also need a cooking pot back at base to clean your water and cook your meat. Your base becomes a big focus a third of the way through the game, as you’ll be able to build a variety of facilities that will allow you to craft weapons, clothing and gear for out in the field. Provided you’ve collected all the needed resources of course.

Combat is clunky but fitting. The game clearly reuses many of the assets from The Phantom Pain. You’ll see many familiar animals, landscapes and even weapons. However Survive puts far more of a focus on melee combat, as ammunition is rare and costly to produce. This leads you to avoid combat in the first few hours, drawing attention away from yourself, singling out enemies and stealthily taking them out, rather than rushing in with a spear and enough stamina for a mere two jabs. However as you explore the world you’ll discover new recipes that allow for the crafting of better gear; like shotguns, bows and grenades.

The games biggest selling point is the dust. The world of Dite is covered in a thick layer of dust, that obscures vision and indicates the more dangerous parts of the map. I wonder where they found inspiration for this mechanic (hint hint, the fog from Silent Hills)? Within the dust you’ll find larger quantities of enemies and rare materials, however the dust zones will also cause your guide markers to disappear and you’ll have to manage your oxygen within this inhospitable area.

The only way to make the Dust a little easier to navigate, is by switching on worm hole transporters, the fast travel points on the map. From there you can teleport between safe zones, and back to base, even within the heat of battle. Turning on these worm hole transporters makes up a good 50% of the games story/ side missions. To turn on a transporter you’ll have to protect it from incoming wanderers, in a horde mode style encounter. These skirmishes can last between 60 seconds to 30 minutes and can come in waves or continuous onslaughts.

This horde mode focused combat has been extremely polarizing, with many calling it tedious. However with the right resources, it can become a tactical and nail biting endeavor. You might start by deploying fences or traps in choke points or open areas. Then draw in larger crowds with decoys and disperse them with grenades or fire arrows, taking out multiple enemies at once. Enemies will attempt to destroy your fences, and eventually break through, so it’s up to you to find the most strategic and conservative way to protect the charging worm hole transporter. Initially they seem like punishing and clunky encounters, but if you take the time to find new recipes and resources, you’ll always have a creative way to survive by the skin of your teeth. That is one of the reasons Survive is so engaging. You always feel like you had JUST enough to survive each encounter.

How much more is there?

On top of everything mentioned above, there are countless other systems to utilize. When killing an enemy, you receive ‘Kuban’ energy from their crystal covered corpses. This energy has an abundance of uses; from refilling your oxygen tank, to crafting new gear, to leveling up your characters health and stamina, and even links in to the games overarching plot.

You’ll also have to manage your base once it is established. You’ll find survivors out in the dust who you’ll have to provide medicine and food for. However they aren’t completely useless. You can also task them with managing your crops, so you don’t have to hunt as often, or distributing food and medicine equally, if you don’t want to deal with that. You can even send small teams out into the field with weapons you’ve crafted, and hope they return with a much needed resource. Survive is as deep as you want it to be. There are many systems that can be managed for you, or ways of lowering the amount of time you need to focus on them. There are even elements that can be ignored in their entirety. The online co-op promoted before release can be ignored and forgotten if you are looking for a more narrative focussed experience. Metal Gear: Survive has a lot to take in but there is enough guidance to manage everything before you’re overwhelmed.

Final Thoughts

Survive is a Metal Gear game in title alone, which was a poor decision in terms of marketing. However when judged as a survival game, it is one of the best in it’s genre. It is punishing, littered with systems and meters to monitor and at times janky. But it is also polished, well designed and focused in a way most survival games are not. Yes you spend most of your time scavenging, fighting off hordes and simply trying to survive, but surviving has never been so satisfying. I urge those swayed by negative reviews to give this game a chance. Just because it isn’t exactly what you expected it to be, or hoped it would be, doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve praise.

10/10

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/12/01/metal-gear-survive-my-last-review/feed/0908591ctbowringMetal-Gear-Survive-headerMetal-Gear-Survive-1080P-Wallpaper-2MGSURVIVE_PR_02metal_gear_survive_beginner_s_guide.0Metal-Gear-Survive-Base-CampQuiet Stories’ Book Club: December 2018https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/25/quiet-stories-book-club-december-2018/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/25/quiet-stories-book-club-december-2018/#respondSun, 25 Nov 2018 09:10:56 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2487These are our game recommendations for the month of December 2018. Since we are now preparing for Christmas, this month we will highlight some great games you can play with your kids or family.

This is the Quiet Stories’ Book Club, a monthly series where we challenge you to beat at least one of the games on our list. We’ll have expansive and time consuming games, for gamers on a limited budget. We’ll have smaller, more digestible titles, for gamers with little spare time. We’ll showcase a variety of genres and platforms. We’ll recommend the newest, most talked about games, and some older titles that you probably heard about but didn’t give the time of day to. The point is, we’ll have something to cater to everyone’s needs. Hopefully you’ll end up trying something new or discover a hidden gem.

Dr. Mario

Platforms: Switch

Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

How is a game from the 80’s still so damn good!?! The simple act of trying to remove viruses from your patient is both satisfying and nail biting. I highly recommend Nintendo’s online subscription, just for Dr. Mario.

Planet Alpha

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 5 Hours

Planet Alpha is a clever and visually stunning 2D platformer. It’s lush environments and interesting enemy puzzles make this game stand out from the crowd.

Overcooked

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 9 Hours

Overcooked is one of the greatest couch co-op games of the decade. It’s simple in premise, but its fast paced kitchen management gameplay will force you to work with another in high stress scenarios.

Brawlout

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 6 Hours

Brawlout is the closest a non-Nintendo company has come to replicating Super Smash Bros. It’s gameplay and roster are diverse and tightly designed, but it’s cast, despite including a few familiar faces from Hyper Light Drifter and Guacamelee, doesn’t reach the heights of its inspiration.

Super Lucky’s Tale

Platforms: Xbox One and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 8 Hours

Xbox has had trouble mimicking the success of it’s competition’s exclusives. Super Lucky’s Tale is clearly an attempt at duplicating the 3D Mario games, but without the popular icon, this 3D platformer is good but not revolutionary.

Severed

Platforms: Switch and Mobile

Estimated Time to Finish: 6 Hours

Severed is one of the Vita’s greatest titles and arguably the best touch screen game of all time. It’s simple story and controls are heightened immensely by how well they are implemented.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Mobile

Estimated Time to Finish: 12 Hours

The first Lego game of this generation… and still the best. Lego Marvel Super Heroes is broader in scale than those that came before it, but not weighed down by convoluted changes, like those who came after.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Platforms: Switch

Estimated Time to Finish: 5 Hours

Perhaps one of the most beloved games of all time, I completed Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time in 2018, at the age of 22. It didn’t change the world for me, but I can see and respect what it did at the time, and the lineage it left behind.

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/25/quiet-stories-book-club-december-2018/feed/0planet-alpha-1920x1080ctbowringQuiet Stories’ Top 25 Games of Last Generation (PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360)https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/16/quiet-stories-top-25-games-of-last-generation-playstation-3-xbox-360/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/16/quiet-stories-top-25-games-of-last-generation-playstation-3-xbox-360/#commentsFri, 16 Nov 2018 20:59:11 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2471This month marks the five year anniversary since the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and so every week we’ll be releasing an article that celebrates the games of previous generations. This week we look back upon the greatest games of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (in our opinion).

25. Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops is a game haunted by it’s terrible name. Surprisingly it isn’t a terrible military game, but actually one of the most well written narratives of a generation.

24. Grand Theft Auto 5

GTA 5 is a masterclass in world building, and deserves a place on any organisations top 25 list. It did little to change the series, and yet merely with a new coat of paint continues to top charts 5 years after release.

23. Limbo

Limbo is one of the reasons that the independent games scene exists today. It’s simple premise, but haunting visuals told so much, without a single word.

22. Resistance 3

With the popularity of Battlefield and Call of Duty, few developers were brave enough to avoid a modern military setting last generation. So many were understandably skeptical when the developer behind the kid friendly Ratchet and Clank created a terrifying and unique FPS set in the 1950’s… with aliens.

21. Max Payne 3

Originally a series developed by Remedy, Rockstar took over the reigns for Max Payne 3 and added a level of polish and cinematography that few games have accomplished.

20. State of Decay

State of Decay ignored the many zombie games focused on eviscerating hordes in the goriest fashion possible, and instead honed in on the art of simply surviving. Never have I played a game where strolling down the road to scavenge some food felt so perilous.

19. Bioshock: Infinite

Infinite stands alongside Half Life 2, as one of the greatest first person shooters of all time. Not only was combat fast paced and riveting, but Booker and Elizabeth’s relationship is one of the most important in all of gaming.

18. The Sly Collection

All three of the original games; The Thievius Raccoonus, Band of Thieves and Honor Among Thieves. Remastered in beautiful HD glory.

17. The Wolf Among Us

Telltale found the golden goose with The Walking Dead, and somehow they managed to replicate that quality in a game based on a comic book about the big bad wolf. Yes I know it sounds ludicrous.

16. The Jak and Daxter Collection

Arguably the best trilogy on PS2 and some of Naughty Dog’s best work, all three of the original games look best (even compared to the PS4 versions) on PlayStation 3.

15. South Park: The Stick of Truth

Somehow Obsidian, the creators of Fallout: New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic 2 did it again and created a fantastic RPG, faithful to the source material.

14. Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 is arguably the best first person shooter of the last generation. It toted a massive open world, with animals to hunt, bases to annihilate and the cherry on top, one of the most well written villains in all of gaming, Vas.

13. Saints Row the Third

Some might criticize us for putting a GTA knock off higher on the list than GTA itself, but even if the series roots were inspired by Rockstar’s magnum opus, The Third brought a level of insanity to the open world genre, never seen before.

12. L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire wasn’t a massive commercial success, but it tried things few games even attempted. From facial capture, to telling a thrilling detective story, to recreating Los Angeles just after the war. This game took risks, and they paid off.

11. Hitman: Absolution

For many Absolution is one of the worst Hitman games, but for us, it was a playground of spectacle and opportunity.

10. Journey

Just cracking our top 10 is Journey, one of the most emotional multiplayer experiences ever. This is the game that began the conversation over whether games should be viewed as art.

9. Heavy Rain

David Cage and Quantic Dream are very hit or miss with their cinematic style of game design, but most can agree that Heavy Rain is their best work, and was far ahead of its time.

8. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Skyrim is the game that catapulted Bethesda into the mainstream spotlight. It’s world is dense, brimming with lore and has been turned upside down with mods in the years that have followed.

7. Alan Wake

Alan Wake is the haunting action-horror series developed by Remedy. With it’s unique mechanics and story, this dev proved that you don’t have to play as a soldier to create great action.

6. Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is a great RPG and a good action game. It places at number 6 however, for making us care about NPC’s as if they were real companions.

5. Sleeping Dogs

Just cracking the top 5 is Sleeping Dogs. A game very similar to GTA, but superior to it thanks to a gripping crime drama, and cinematic fist fights.

4. The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series

Moving, emotional and life changing. These are the words used to describe a game that took a mid tier developer to new heights.

3. Infamous 2

The greatest super hero game of all time, Infamous 2 is a sandbox of fun. With various decisions to make on the way you”l also have to decide whether to take the route of the hero or the villain.

2. The Last of Us

The Last of Us isn’t just a game, it’s art, an experience, a step forward for gaming in so many ways.

1. Red Dead Redemption

This is not only the game we believe to be the greatest game of last generation, but also the greatest game of all time. Before the hype of Red Dead 2, this game showed many of us the scope of what gaming could mean.

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/16/quiet-stories-top-25-games-of-last-generation-playstation-3-xbox-360/feed/21995919ctbowringQuiet Stories’ Top 25 Classic PlayStation Games (PS1/ PS2/ PSP)https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/11/quiet-stories-top-25-classic-playstation-games-ps1-ps2-psp/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/11/quiet-stories-top-25-classic-playstation-games-ps1-ps2-psp/#commentsSun, 11 Nov 2018 01:39:02 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2466This month marks the five year anniversary since the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and so every week we’ll be releasing an article that celebrates the games of previous generations. This week we look back upon the greatest classic PlayStation titles (in our opinion).

25. Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer

Otherwise known as Ripto’s Rage in America, Spyro 2 is one of the PlayStation 1’s all time best. Even with Mario 64 stealing most the limelight, Gateway to Glimmer is a 3D platforming classic. If you’ve never played the original trilogy your in for a treat, because we are just days away from the remakes of all three games being released by Activision.

24. Ben 10: Protector of Earth

Ben 10 was one of the most popular shows of the mid 2000’s, and during an area where licensed games were predominantly hot garbage… Ben 10’s first video game adaptation provided a lot of what fans were looking for.

23. Jaws: Unleashed

We’ve played a tonne of games in the last decade, with a focus on hunting animals. However back on the PS2 you had to hunt people… as the legendary great white, Jaws.

22. The Incredibles

Another licensed game, The Incredibles was not only faithful to the pixar film but was cleverly designed to utilize each members unique powers in the most enjoyable way.

21. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Grand Theft Auto 3 changed how designers look at open worlds, and San Andreas popularized the GTA brand with a global consumer base, but Vice City Stories showed that you could experience all the series has to offer… on a handheld device.

20. Buzz: The Hollywood Quiz

The PS2 wasn’t just about solo experiences. It was about bringing the family together. Buzz: The Hollywood Quiz challenged our knowledge of cinema in mini games that were both accessible and highly competitive.

19. Spongebob Squarepants: Creature From the Krusty Krab

Not all kids games need to be boring. CFTKK featured Plankton, Patrick and the titular sponge racing hot rods, prancing around as super heroes and destroying entire cities, in a strange dream-like version of Bikini Bottom.

18. Disney’s Tarzan

Disney has long looked after their franchises. One of the original PlayStation’s greatest 2D platformers was Tarzan. A charming title that follows the man among apes, from boy to hero.

17. Jak X

The fourth game in the Jak and Daxter series, and Naughty Dog’s second racing spin off, Jak X is one of the best car combat games ever made, giving even Twisted Metal a run for it’s money.

16. Madagascar

Madagascar was the first game I ever beat. It expanded on the story of the hit Dreamworks film, allowed you to play as 5 distinct characters and even had stealth missions where you try and escape from the zoo.

15. God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Everyone is still in awe of 2018’s soft reboot of the series but many forget that the previous best entry in the series was merely a spin off. Ghost of Sparta duplicated the famous combat of the main games for a portable system, and gave Kratos some much needed narrative motivation.

14. Ratchet and Clank: Locked and Loaded

Spyro isn’t the only PlayStation classic produced by Insomniac. They also deserve plenty of credit for their PS2 mascots Ratchet and Clank. The second game in the series solidified the company’s brand of unique gadgets and ostentatious weapons.

13. The Sims 2

The Sims like Stardew Valley are their own type of game. Relaxing, ridiculous and something you can come home to. It was The Sims 2 that finally brought this amazing experience to life on consoles and provided gamers, who didn’t even know they were gamers, an entirely unique experience.

12. Lego Star Wars

There was a time that a silent Lego video game would seem outlandish. In 2018 virtually every kid friendly brand has a Lego equivalent in video game form. However this is where it began, before future titles became convoluted collectathons.

11. Codename Kids Next Door: Operation Video Game

One of Cartoon Networks most successful properties during the early 2000’s was KND. I never believed they could make a game that replicated the humor of the television series. Yet they did, included an abundance of classic characters and made each level distinct from the last.

10. Ultimate Spider-Man

Just cracking the top 10 is Ultimate Spider-Man. When thinking back to classic super hero games, we often reference Spider-Man 2. Yet Ultimate Spider-Man built on the web swinging of two, crafted a far superior comic book inspired narrative and added Venom as an extremely enjoyable playable character.

9. Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer

There are few games that pay tribute to the cultures that inspired them, yet still create massively impressive games. Well Brave did that back on PS2, showcasing mechanics and depth that were rarely seen at the time.

8. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005)

In 2018 the name Battlefront 2 is associated with greed and loot box controversies, but in 2005 it was one of the best Star Wars games of all time. It was a title that finally brought forth the scale of the Clone Wars in the perfect way.

7. Rally Championship

A level of realism, speed and polish that few driving games of the time had, but a level of recognition far below what it deserved. Rally Championship is one of the best racing games ever made. I dare you to try it.

6. Monster Lab

Critically and commercially underrated, Monster Lab is a PlayStation 2 gem. A turn based strategy game where you built your own monsters, Frankenstein style. It was the closest any of us at the time were getting to Pokemon without a Nintendo console.

5. The Simpsons: Hit and Run

There have been plenty of GTA clones over the years, but none carved out it’s own audience more than Hit and Run. It took everything Grand Theft Auto 3 created, placed it within the Simpson’s universe, and catered to an audience too young for Rockstar’s Goliath.

4. Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Arguably one of the greatest licensed games and fighting games of all time, BT3 was a love letter to fans of the show. It had a story arc, and over 100 playable characters from Dragonball all the way to GT. Forget Tekken or Mortal Kombat, this is one of the greats.

3. Sly 2: Band of Thieves

For many kids who grew up with a PS2, this was one of the first stealth games they ever played. It gave Metal Gear a run for it’s money at the time and had extremely well crafted heists well before GTA 5 came along.

2. Destroy All Humans 2

THQ became infamous over the years for releasing sub-par AA games. However Destroy All Humans toted one of the most unique premises in gaming, and it’s sequel delivered in scope and quality far beyond anyone’s expectations.

1. Jak 3

That’s right, there isn’t a single Metal Gear Solid game on this list. You’ll also find Shadow of the Colossus and Final Fantasy aren’t here either. People forget that not everyone grew up with an NES and SNES, falling in love with Zelda and Mario as a child. Some of us (myself included) grew up with a PS2, and this is a list that caters to those people. Metal Gear and Final Fantasy weren’t interesting to kids. However games like Jak 3 blew our minds with what gaming had the potential to be.

It’s fine that critics panned it for being ‘too kid focused’ or ‘angsty.’ Those who grew up with a PS2 know how important this game was. For anyone out there who disagrees, believing it to be the bad taste of children, the same argument can be said for those who grew up with a Nintendo in the 80’s. It’s all relative.

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/11/quiet-stories-top-25-classic-playstation-games-ps1-ps2-psp/feed/2Sly_meets_McSweeneyctbowringThe Top 25 Most Influential Games of Last Generationhttps://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/04/the-top-25-most-influential-games-of-last-generation/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/04/the-top-25-most-influential-games-of-last-generation/#commentsSun, 04 Nov 2018 03:15:22 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2453This month marks the five year anniversary since the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and so every week we’ll be releasing an article that celebrates the games of both last gen and this gen. This week we celebrate the games from last generation that made waves within the industry.

1. Gears of War (2006)

Gears of War revolutionized third person shooters. The ability to duck into cover, blind fire or hurdle over obstacles progressed this genre from messy fire fights to tactile skirmishes.

2. Wii Sports (2006)

The Wii took the world by storm with it’s revolutionary motion controls and mass consumer appeal. Wii Sports may have just been a tech demo, but it was so well loved it inspired countless other publishers to attempt their own version of it.

3. Bioshock (2007)

Not only is Bioshock still phenomenal to play, but it still stands tall as one of the best narrative driven shooters in history. It showed developers that you could still have the fast paced shooting of Doom but intertwine it with philosophical ideas and twist filled narratives.

4. Assassin’s Creed (2007)

Assassin’s Creed was one of last generation’s most influential action games. It was also one of the first games to popularize the idea of publishers having a flagship yearly franchise.

5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007)

Most of us couldn’t imagine the world of video games without it’s annual Call of Duty entry. Yet there was a time when this series took the world by surprise. Modern Warfare began the cinematic, explosive campaigns we’ve grown accustomed to in shooters and the perk based multiplayer systems that dominate the industry today.

6. Halo 3 (2007)

Halo 3 concluded Xbox’s biggest exclusive franchise to date. Sure a new trilogy began a few years later, but after the cliffhanger of Halo 2, many were dying of anticipation to, ‘finish the fight.’

7. Braid (2008)

Braid is one of the most influential and important games of all time. It took us back to the 2D glory that the rest of the industry had forgotten and proved that small teams can still find massive success without the aid of a publisher. It also lead the way for the entire indie industry and most indie developers have Braid to thank for the current opportunities available.

8. Fallout 3 (2008)

Fallout 3 is one of the most successful reinventions of a franchise ever. It took the top-down isometric Fallout series and merged it with the scope and style of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. For many in the industry, this is the game that put Bethesda on the map.

9. Left 4 Dead (2008)

Can a purely multiplayer game find mainstream success? Left 4 Dead proved at a time when online console multiplayer player was ramping up, that yes, yes it can.

10. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)

During a time when the Xbox 360 was hitting the peek of it’s popularity, PlayStation needed to show that they were still in the race. In steps Naughty Dog, blurring the lines between video game narratives and films.

11. Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)

People forget that before Arkham Asylum, licensed games were generally terrible. Asylum not only broke this trend, but influenced the combat in countless action games for years to come and paved the way for success for games like 2018’s Spider-Man.

12. Mass Effect 2 (2010)

Mass Effect 2 made choices matter. The characters that joined your team weren’t just NPC’s, they were friends. The choices you made weren’t only life and death decisions but also carried over into the trilogy’s conclusion.

13. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)

Mario is arguably massively influential during every generation, and funnily enough they were last generation as well. Galaxy 2 like it’s predecessors find away to take the simple platforming the series popularized in the 80’s and rework it to still be just as charming and addictive in the current climate.

14. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim (2011)

If Fallout 3 put Bethesda on the map among the games industry, Skyrim showed the whole world what this company was capable of. To this day Skyrim is an example of the breath and scope open worlds have to offer.

15. Dark Souls (2011)

It is rare for new genres to appear within the world of gaming. Although Demon Souls paved the way for the Souls-like genre, Dark Souls is where this niche truly found it’s global appeal.

16. Minecraft (2011)

After the success of Pokemon, few games have managed to turn a video game into an entire merchandise empire. Minecraft appeared from nowhere and did just that, with every toy store in the world boasting some form of Minecraft shirt, toy or collectible. Somehow Mojang managed to create Lego for a digital generation.

17. Portal 2 (2011)

Valve are not only one of the best developers in history, but besides Tetris they managed to create the best puzzle game of all time, Portal 2. It also helps that their ingenious puzzle game is hilarious from a story stand point.

18. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure (2011)

Disney: Infinity, Starlink: Battle for Atlas and the high quality Amiibo range all stemmed from the original toys to life game, that in itself was an offshoot of one of PlayStation’s original mascots. It may have been a short lived genre, but it found massive success for a time.

19. Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 1 (2012)

Telltale games had been around a long time before The Walking Dead, and even though the game was smaller in scale, and marred by glitches, it moved gamers in ways they’d never been moved before. It showed the industry that writing was just as important as graphics or gameplay.

20. Journey (2012)

Journey may be a 2 hour indie game, with no dialogue or voice acting, yet it is one of the most moving tales in gaming. Journey took video games beyond entertainment and started the genuine discussion over whether certain games may be viewed as art.

21. Gone Home (2012)

Gone Home continued The Walking Dead’s crusade to show the importance of writing in games. It divided audiences. Some said that it was the beginning of a more narrative focused genre, while others mocked it for being nothing more than a ‘walking simulator.’

22. DOTA 2 (2013)

The MOBA genre is one that separated the gaming industry. Many traditional influencers and games media struggled to enjoy the concept, while an entire new audience of gamers adopted its complex systems and large rosters of heroes with ease.

23. Pokemon X and Y (2013)

X and Y are both a step forward for one of gaming’s most beloved series, but also a sign of Game Freak’s stubborn ways. It brought both new Pokemon and Kanto classics into a 3D space for the first time ever, but also showed that even after 20 years, very little needs to be added to a formula still selling in the millions.

24. The Last of Us (2013)

Naughty Dog cemented themselves as one of the industries most innovative and talented developers with The Last of Us. Never before has a story been told with so much gravity and humanity. This new I.P. created characters so real that the voice actors behind them shot to stardom.

25. Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)

Rockstar made waves during the PlayStation 2 generation for popularizing the 3D open world genre. Last generation they did so again by setting the bar for what a realistic, dynamic and enjoyable open world should look like. Grand Theft Auto 5 isn’t just influencing today’s games but is still outselling them too, 5 years after release.

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/11/04/the-top-25-most-influential-games-of-last-generation/feed/1280738ctbowringQuiet Stories’ Book Club: November 2018https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/10/27/quiet-stories-book-club-november-2018/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/10/27/quiet-stories-book-club-november-2018/#commentsSat, 27 Oct 2018 06:02:52 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2439These are our game recommendations for the month of November 2018.

This is the Quiet Stories’ Book Club, a monthly series where we challenge you to beat at least one of the games on our list. We’ll have expansive and time consuming games, for gamers on a limited budget. We’ll have smaller, more digestible titles, for gamers with little spare time. We’ll showcase a variety of genres and platforms. We’ll recommend the newest, most talked about games, and some older titles that you probably heard about but didn’t give the time of day to. The point is, we’ll have something to cater to everyone’s needs. Hopefully you’ll end up trying something new or discover a hidden gem.

Never Alone

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Mobile

Estimated Time to Finish: 4 Hours

Never Alone is an amazing and emotional 2D platformer. It captures and preserves the stories of indigenous Alaskan tribes, sharing a piece of history, while still being incredibly enjoyable to play. The Fox Tales expansion is also fantastic and adds an hour of gameplay for less than $3.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Platforms: Switch, PC and Mobile

Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

Sonic is a product of the mascot era of gaming during the 90’s. Sadly Sega’s answer to Mario has had far more bad games than good ones. However if you want to see where it all began, the original Sonic isn’t too bad.

Skip to 00:40

Bayonetta 2

Platforms: Switch

Estimated Time to Finish: 10 Hours

Fast paced, Devil May Cry inspired, arcade action. Bayonetta 2 is still as non-nonsensical as the first game, but improves combat, enemy diversity and level structure greatly.

Stardew Valley

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC and Mobile

Estimated Time to Finish: 50 Hours

Stardew Valley isn’t like most games. It is leisurely, relaxing and perfect for chipping away at 15 minutes at a time. It’s up to you what you’d like to invest time in. Whether it be mining, fishing, gardening or socializing.

Super Mario Bros.

Platforms: Switch

Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

For some this was their first game. For some it’s the game that made them fall in love with the gaming industry. For me, it was a great platformer that I didn’t play until I was 22.

Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)

Platforms: PlayStation 4

Estimated Time to Finish: 20 Hours

Marvel’s Spider-Man is so many things. It’s a great PlayStation exclusive, arguably the best game of the year so far, and arguably one of the best games of this generation. The developers behind Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive have truly stepped up a level.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

Bloodstained pays homage to the original Castlevania in the most genuine way. Unlike Mighty No. 9, Curse of the Moon doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and instead celebrate the past.

Resident Evil 7: The Season Pass

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 7 Hours

Resident Evil 7 is the best survival horror game of the last decade and a reinvention of a classic series. It’s Season Pass adds a variety of content that changes up the formula even further. It boasts two story campaigns, one from the perspective of a member of the Baker family and one that turns the game into a third person shooter focussed on Chris Redfield. There’s also hoard modes, Saw style puzzle sequences and wacky mini games.

Sea of Thieves

Platforms: Xbox One and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 10 Hours

Sea of Thieves is a strange beast. Alone it is dull, slow and unfocused. But with others it is a messy, laugh inducing, playground of fun. If you want a story driven pirate game, try Black Flag. If you want to throw your vomit at a friend who’s trying to stop your ship from sinking, play Sea of Thieves.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC

Estimated Time to Finish: 10 Hours

Black Ops 4 is an interesting set of experiences to dissect. It removes the single-player campaign (which was incredibly weak in Black Ops 3), and replaces it with, in my opinion, the best Battle Royale mode to date. The multiplayer is the best that it has been since Modern Warfare, but this years Zombies doesn’t even come close to meeting the high’s of WW2’s version of the mode.

Earlier this year I decided to investigate the difficulties and realities of marketing and launching a video game related product. The aim of this experiment was to see if it is possible to find success without the backing of a large company in the video game industry.

Definition of Terms

Developer: Someone who creates video games.

Indie: A game made by one or a small group of developers, rather than a large company.

PUBG: Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds is a PC and Console game.

Console: A device made specifically to play video games.

Modder: Someone who edits the code in games to create new content.

USD: United States Dollar.

NZD: New Zealand Dollar.

Crowd funding: A product or business is funded by any individual interested, for either equity, content or products in return.

Kickstarter: A crowd funding platform for products.

Patreon: A crowd funding platform for creators and businesses.

Online Influencer: The celebrities of the internet. People who are famous/ have large dedicated audiences on internet/ social media platforms.

Where do you Start?

There are a multitude of ways in which individuals and companies market video game related products. Large companies like Rockstar have spent in the ball park of 290 million developing and marketing games like Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar North, 2013), even when those titles already possess monumental amounts of brand recognition. That’s not to say that these flashy marketing campaigns don’t provide return on investment. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Infinity Ward, 2011) was backed by TV commercials featuring actors like Jonah Hill and Sam Worthington, which couldn’t have been cheap, but earned 400 million in the US and Uk… in just 24 hours (30 of the Most Successful Video Game Marketing Campaigns Ever, n.d.).

So what if you don’t have the marketing budget of a large corporation and are ok with just making enough to get by. The indie scene is full of individuals doing just that, but even smaller titles that seemingly came out of nowhere, have some form of brand recognition. PUBG (PUBG Corporation, 2017) was created by Brendan Greene, an extremely popular ARMA (Bohemia Interactive, 2006 – 2013) modder and Gone Home (2012), Fullbright’s first game, was made almost entirely by ex-Bioshock (Irrational Games, 2007 – 2013) developers.

In the article titled, 30 of the Most Successful Video Game Marketing Campaigns Ever (n.d.), only one of the mentioned games is a smaller, independent title. Angry Birds (Rovio Entertainment, 2009) developers Niklas and Mikael Hed have discussed how they did vast amounts of market research when designing their product and capitalized on endorsements from established brands in order to become the juggernaut successes they are now. Yet a partnership with an established brand doesn’t always guarantee success. According to the University of Chicago, a partnership between an unknown brand and an established brand shouldn’t be immediate, because the unknown brand needs time to build an audience of its own first (Dovijarov, n.d.). Perhaps Angry Birds wouldn’t have succeeded if it hadn’t already topped the charts in Finland and Greece, before being promoted by Apple.

So how would one go about growing this initial audience on their own? How would someone without an established audience or significant financial backing, market and popularize a new product? It would surely rule out traditional marketing practices, like advertisements placed on television, radio or in print. Which leaves one option, online marketing. Pradiptarini (2011) speaks highly of social media marketing, discussing how many companies use social media to improve relationships with existing customers and reach new audiences that were once unreachable.

Yet despite the encouragement to capitalize on such platforms, I’ve personally found they provide less than satisfying results. In 2013 I spent $100 NZD promoting a video through YouTube’s advertisement service. The video secured the 10,000 views YouTube promised, but only 0.1% watched any of my other content and 0.01% of those who watched the video actually subscribed to my channel.

I did a similar test using Facebook’s paid promotion features recently. For $18 NZD Facebook claimed they could expose my recent blog post to between 320 – 1800 people per day, for seven days. The tool also allowed me to focus my marketing campaign on demographics interested in content similar to mine. Over the following week roughly 2000 people were exposed to my article link. Only 100 actually clicked on the link. An argument can be made, that these poor results are actually a reflection of the quality of my products, rather than the effectiveness of social media marketing. Yet how often do you click on a Facebook pop up or continue watching a YouTube advertisement after you’ve been given the option to skip ahead? That then brought me to the idea of online influencers; YouTubers, Instagram Models, Twitch Streamers and Patreon Creators.

Influencers of the Internet

“You are in your mid-30s, single, sipping a coffee at your favorite coffee shop. Suddenly a stranger approaches your table and asks if he can sit with you. Instinctively drawing your purse a little closer, you make an excuse and leave. A month later your best friend tells you about someone she wants you to meet and gives you a very unbiased opinion on his virtues and vices. Knowing your friend has the best of intentions, you agree to meeting this person. As you walk into the restaurant you see the coffee shop guy sitting at a table waiting for you! This time your guard is down because you have the endorsement of someone you deeply trust,” (A New Marketing Royalty: Why Digital Influencers Are on the Rise, 2017, p. 2).

This power of endorsement is why many brands are turning to online influencers. Influencers allow you to focus in on your target audience and share your exciting new product, but with more authenticity. It is also significantly cheaper. Emirates spent a quarter of their $20 million 2016 marketing budget on producing several online ads with celebrity Jennifer Aniston. One of the videos has been viewed 6 million times.

They also provided some free products to online influencer Casey Neistat. They didn’t spend any of their marketing budget on collaborating with him, or ask anything in return. He liked their product and made 2 videos about it. Those videos provided Emirates with 52 million views of free advertising (A New Marketing Royalty: Why Digital Influencers Are on the Rise, 2017).

Perhaps this could be the answer. Perhaps this is how someone could go about launching their new game, without having the capital to build a dedicated consumer base early on. Yes it somewhat goes against the advice of Dovijarov (n.d.), but it seems the only way to get your product in front of an audience without significant financial cost. Now to test out this theory, I’d actually need a product.

As someone without the time to produce a video game for mere academic purposes, I considered other gaming related products that could be finished quick enough to test my assumptions. I also needed to create something with the skill set I already possessed. Since I had experience self-publishing a book in 2014, I decided upon a video game related book. I took inspiration from three core pillars. The Official Pokemon Handbook (Maria S. Barbo, 1999) was an essential part of my childhood. It took all the characters from the Pokemon (Game Freak, 1996-2018) games and provided details like their height, habitat and personality traits. Flanimals (Ricky Gervais, 2004) was a similar sort of book, but included entirely original creatures with descriptions shaped by Gervais’ trademark humor. Rise and Shine (2017) is a 2D run n’ gun by developer Super Mega Team. What makes it stand out, is its satirical mockery of other well-known gaming franchises, poking fun at the likes of Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006) and Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo Creative Department, 1985).

I had a marketing strategy and I planned to test it on a book titled…

…Video Game Abominations. The book would be a satirical encyclopedia of famous video game characters, written and illustrated by myself. Although a book, its video game premise would hopefully mean the target audience, level of interest and results of my research, would be similar enough to if I’d tried this experiment with an indie game. Yet even at this point, I still faced adversity. I could write and illustrate the book myself, but not publish it. Even if I attempted to self-publish, the costs were considerably high.

According to Wesley and Barczak (2010) a limited budget may be of benefit. Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix, 2006) was one of the Xbox 360’s 10 bestselling games, yet it toted a limited budget and aged visuals. What it did have however was a core principle of game design success, ‘easy to learn. Hard to master.’ Lair (Factor 5, 2007) on the other hand, had a 20 million dollar budget, three years development time and stunning visuals, but lacked any actual substance. Perhaps having less to work with can ensure that what is there can be polished and therefore stand out amongst the crowd.

Yet I didn’t even have a limited budget. I had no budget. My entire budget ($1500 NZD) was to be put towards marketing. Then I stumbled across a paper by Ethan Mollick (2014) which highlights the specifics of utilizing crowdfunding platforms. Crowd funding can be incredibly liberating, allowing for success no matter what the geographical location. This was a positive, since I am based in New Zealand but wanted to reach a global audience. Crowd funding campaigns generally succeed by a small margin or fail by a large one. In order to be the former it is important to demonstrate you have a quality product and have prepared well in advance. Established social media audiences can lead to overwhelming success, like in the case of Exploding Kittens (Lee & Small, 2015), a Kickstarted card game with an initial goal of $10,000, which then went on to raise over $8.7 million USD.

Although crowdfunding isn’t quite what it was back when Mollick (2014) carried out his investigation. In the years since, consumers have become extremely wary of platforms like Kickstarter. This can be contributed to projects like Mighty Number 9 (Comcept, 2016). During the 2013 Kickstarter campaign, backers were told they’d receive their copy of the game by April 2015. It released over a year late, looking drastically different to what consumers had originally financially supported, and there were many cases of backers never receiving what they purchased. After this became a regular occurrence, consumers became wary of online crowdfunding, and the platform has waned in popularity and success.

Still, this seemed like the best platform for me to conduct my research, due to limited alternatives. So I had a product, a marketing plan and a platform for my product to launch through.

Do Indies have a Chance in 2018?

I worked as a freelance games journalist for several years, and in that time I saw some great games and talented developers fail. Not because their games were inherently bad, but because they weren’t able to get it out in front of audiences. According to Erik Kain (2014) 4 years ago there were over 780 million games on Steam, the biggest PC gaming, online market place. 36.9% of those games, had not been played or bought by a single user. That should worry any aspiring indie developer.

I conducted all of the research above, for the following investigation. Do unknown indie game developers have a chance? Can someone with no financial backing or pre-established audience successfully market a video game related product?

For this investigation I didn’t have the time or ability to create a game of my own, so, with a budget of $1500 NZD, I wrote and illustrated a book, reached out to publications and online influencers for support and ran a Kickstarter for it.

The book was called Video Game Abominations. It was to be a satirical encyclopedia filled with iconic video game characters. I reached out to gaming audiences, hoping to hit a chord with their nostalgia and funny bones, and crossed my fingers.

The Experiment in Action

It took just a day to write the entirety of Video Game Abominations. Writing comes naturally to me, and with a deep love and knowledge of video games, writing humorous bios for each of the 20 characters in the book was by far the easiest part of the process. The illustrations proved harder. I had experience using the apps Procreate and Animation HD for iOS, to create simple and crude animations in my high school years. I decided I would need to improve my skills if I wanted to market a quality product. I began experimenting with Adobe Illustrator and followed tutorials by individuals like Clay Butler (2012). It took merely a few days to craft the first three illustrations.

I researched and contacted half a dozen companies that assisted in self-publishing. They were based all around the world, from New Zealand, to Australia, to the United States. I eventually decided to go with Bookprinting.co.nz. For the following specifications they offered a price of roughly $6 NZD plus GST, per book, for a minimum run of 400 copies.

150 x 115 size book

Printed 20 colour and 24 mono pages

100gsm stock inside

300gsm full colour, gloss laminated cover

Perfect bound

I then went about investigating tips for running a successful Kickstarter. The best advice I found came from Brett Jurgens (2015) and Stephanie Condon (2017). Condon pushes the importance of creating buzz well before launch. She references Andrew Jiang, who speaks highly of the importance of launch day. Four months before launching the Kickstarter for his laptop, the Superbook, he and his team reached out to communities who would be interested in such a product, building an email list of 20,000 people by launch day. They raised $50,000 in 10 minutes.

I didn’t have quite as long to prepare, so I began reaching out to communities and influencers 1 month before I planned to launch my Kickstarter. I reached out to roughly 50 games journalism websites, with social media followings ranging in the tens of thousands to millions. One moderately sized website had a disclaimer upon sending through a contact form. They stated that it would be unlikely to see a response from them, due to allegedly receiving over 400 emails a day. I expected little from this approach, and I was right to. Over the coming months I didn’t receive a single response from any website.

I then reached out to my first online influencer. Like many online personalities they utilized the crowdfunding site Patreon to help produce their projects. My budget wouldn’t allow for some of their pricier tiers, so I decided to reach out to them and form a deal. $1000 USD in return for 3 days of the sponsorship time. I’d also throw in a few free copies of the book if the Kickstarter was successful. I contacted them through Patreon, I contacted them through two different business contact forms they offered and I contacted them through a personal email provided by one of their companies support staff. I waited weeks, but never received any form of reply.

(In the following months we eventually got in touch. The period I contacted them was a very busy time for them. Therefore keep in mind that small businesses are often overwhelmed by large workloads. Contact them well in advance).

I decided to focus on other elements of the campaign. Two of Brett Jurgens (2015) biggest tips are to provide compelling rewards that aren’t costly or labor heavy, to avoid a Mighty Number 9 (Comcept, 2016) situation, and to create a truly captivating promotional video. Your promotional video is at the very top of your Kickstarter page and in most cases is the ‘make it or break it’ element for convincing people to fund your campaign. I spent two weeks piecing the video together. The entire video was animated with art I created in the app Animation HD. I also asked my Grandmother to record voice over for herself as part of the video. While keeping Jurgens’ (2015) advice in mind, I created reward tiers that I thought were interesting but cheap to pull off. I started with a $6 NZD tier where I’d give the backer a shout out on a post-launch live stream. For the highest tier I copied what many successful Kickstarter’s have offered, multiple copies of the book and an opportunity to hang out with the creator, for the price of $1382 NZD. I can’t say I genuinely believed spending time with me is worth that much, but why reinvent the wheel.

Having finalized all other aspects of my campaign, I went back to trying to find an online influencer to help market my Kickstarter. I partnered with two groups of online influencers made up of ex games journalists. What’s Good Games and Easy Allies are two companies that produce gaming related video and podcast content. Both groups content reaches tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of viewers depending on popularity, they also both utilize Patreon. I’d also been a fan of their work for some time. I backed them both at their $500 USD tiers, which worked out to be almost the entirety of my budget. Easy Allies agreed to read out an advertisement for my Kickstarter alongside several other advertisements, during their podcasts in the month of April. What’s Good Games offered the same, but would focus solely on my product and go into more detail. I organised the sponsorship’s so that they would promote my Kickstarter for the first time, four days after launch. This way I could gage how much of a difference their support would provide.

(On a side note, I want to commend both Easy Allies and What’s Good Games for their support, professionalism and understanding during the time that we worked together.)

A few days before launch I contacted a variety of games journalism sites again and provided a press release that gave a variety of details on the product and campaign. On April 11th 2018 I launched the Kickstarter for Video Game Abominations. On the first day the only people I told about the campaign were family and friends. Only one family member ended up donating to the campaign. Over the course of the first week the campaign was reported on by several websites, none of which I’d contacted, was promoted on the front page of Kickstarter’s most popular New Zealand campaigns page and was shared on Facebook group pages related to gaming. Before the sponsored advertisements we managed to raise $488 NZD…

…After 3 days of sponsorship by our online influencers, the campaign only raised an extra $111 NZD.

The rest of the campaign was relatively quiet. I was contacted by several websites who claimed they could massively improve my campaigns reach through paid social media marketing packages. My previous experience with social media marketing made me hesitant but I decided to follow up with some of them. None replied to my follow up emails. I also posted three blogs regarding the current state of the campaign on the Quiet Stories Blog (Bowring, 2018). By the end of my month of crowdfunding I’d raised $1882 NZD, just over 10% of my $15,200 NZD goal.

At first glance it would seem I failed. I didn’t reach my funding goal and my collaboration with online influencers hadn’t helped me market my book. The New York Film Academy (2014) amongst many others have stated that with a developer blog, promotion on online forums and promotional videos on sites like YouTube, you’d be well on your way to a successful promotion strategy. I went further than that, and still failed.

What Went Wrong?

I’ve tried to work out where I went wrong. Perhaps Dovijarov (n.d.) was right, immediately partnering with a brand may not have been the right choice. I compared my results to the story of Emirates and Casey Neistat. What I came to understand, was that you can’t force it. Online influencers do have significant power, but they have to believe in the product, they have to be excited about it. You can’t pay for actual genuine interest. That’s not to say I didn’t succeed at all. It was a small victory. When the Kickstarter ended without reaching its goal, several individuals reached out to me with disappointment. I also found out that a journalist from IGN had personally backed the campaign. I hadn’t grown a massive audience, but a small one, a small one that could grow over time. I’ve realized that there isn’t a secret to breaking into this industry. I can’t decisively say whether someone without an established audience can market a video game related product.

I don’t think it was the fault of the influencers I worked with either. They did a fantastic job on their end. I think I just went about working with them in the wrong way.

In 2018, more than ever, marketing matters very little, and creating a quality product that the right influencers connect with, is the best way forward. It’s a game of chance. Perhaps your first few attempts will fail, so perseverance may be the most important factor to marketing your products. Perhaps the small audience you establish with your first product, will expand with every new attempt you make going forward.

So don’t give up. Take every punch, and get right back up a little faster each time.

]]>https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/10/19/my-experience-with-kickstarter/feed/0Coverctbowringpubg-helmet-and-pan-player-bl-1920x1080Angry-Birds-Wallpapers-048AT-cm_311765612-previewmaxresdefault (4)51wkpzqrGIL._SX370_BO1,204,203,200_dimsSteamSummerSale2018Press-Image-1920x1080-8.-Superbook-Starts-at-99-on-KickstarterAndreaRene-9.59.50-PMThe Strongest of Us Suffer Quietly: Tales from Telltalehttps://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/10/13/the-strongest-of-us-suffer-quietly-tales-from-telltale/
https://quietstoriesblog.com/2018/10/13/the-strongest-of-us-suffer-quietly-tales-from-telltale/#respondSat, 13 Oct 2018 20:53:48 +0000http://quietstoriesblog.com/?p=2401Telltale Games’ shutdown has been heartbreaking to watch unfold, and not just because so many incredibly talented people are now out of a job, but because the work those developers created meant so much to me. Telltale’s games have impacted my career, my life and how I view the medium of video games. Some of Goombastomp’s writers and I got together to discuss some of our fondest memories with their work. Here’s what I had to say.

“Telltale means a lot to me. Not just because it’s games are good, but because it’s games have had such a big role in shaping my life over the last few years. The first Telltale game I played was The Walking Dead: Season 1. I was in high school at the time, had just recently begun listening to Podcast Beyond and was in the middle of my second to last year of exams.

It was the point in my life where I moved beyond just playing games and actually became invested in the greater industry around them. I hadn’t heard of Telltale’s The Walking Dead until Greg Miller spoke about it on Beyond. It wasn’t available on consoles in New Zealand at the time, so I started playing it on my iPad. I had no idea how important that game would be to me. It was emotional, riveting and the first game to ever make me cry. From that day forward I’ve regarded it as one of my favorite games of all time, viewed the opinions of Greg Miller crucial to finding new games and thought for the first time that games might be able to tell better stories than movies.

I loved their follow up projects like The Wolf Among Us and Tales From the Borderlands, reviewed Batman: Season 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy during my time as a game reviewer and wrote countless news articles in the lead up to A New Frontier. However, there is one Telltale game very close to me, that I’ve never spoken about.

For the last few years, I’ve struggled with mental illness. When I was first diagnosed I found it hard to understand my condition and find appropriate representations of it in media. I wanted to feel I was understood, that I wasn’t alone in this. Then I found The Walking Dead: Michonne. It’s a spin-off title, three episodes long and released between seasons 2 and 3 of Telltale’s ongoing series.

Most push Michonne aside for not progressing The Walking Dead formula further, viewing it as a bland derivative of the past games. I saw another character who’s inner struggles were eating them alive. I saw a story of someone who appeared strong in front of others, but weak and vulnerable when alone. It was a powerful message to me at the time. Even the strongest of us can be tortured by invisible demons. The Walking Dead: Season 1 meant a lot to many people. The Walking Dead: Michonne meant a tremendous amount to me despite being panned by others. Not every game needs to connect with everyone, one person is enough. So it’s saddening to know that both I and others won’t continue having experiences like this in the future.”